Freya and Myfanwy live the 2026 solar eclipse. I met two friends, both alike in wit, in fair Twickenham where we lay our scene. It was the balmiest of evenings on the Riviera, and people gathered slowly as they do in the Med when the sun has done its worst for the day. Ok the poetry ends there because the twittering of two searingly intelligent young women started blipping on my…
Lina Lapelyte at Tate Modern till 31 August. Free. Sponsored by UNIQULO TATE Play.
3/5 Not worth a special trip, but a bit of fun as a 30 minute detour.
In the Turbine Hall, Lina Lapelyte and TATE Play have erected an expanse of light wooden barriers resembling passport control at LHR. It’s a discouraging sight, and certainly underwhelming as Art goes. But intriguing. Where’s…
World Cup 2026. Semi final: England v Argentina. I’m not a footie fan and was about to go home but back-tracked at the last minute to the Jolly Gardeners in Putney, an unremarkable pub just round the corner which I have been in only a handful of times in 30 years, and never to watch sport.  During the World Cup, I haven’t needed to, the pub fans have kept the score. It’s standing room…
Monsters of the Deep exhibition at The Natural History Museum. Tickets from £15. 4/5 stars: Expect every trick in the book; massive computer animations, stamp trail (very addictive), life-sized skelingtons, trad squashed-bone plaster casts, genuine monster poo that you can TOUCH, colourful clear evolution diagrams, touch screen Q&As, floor2ceiling aquarium-effects.
Madeleine blending…
The Guardian was a bit harsh I thought, designed to provoke like the art itself of course. Yes some walls are overloaded, yes the colours are bunched together rather crassly, yes there’s repetition – too many Full English breakfasts – but the sheer variety at Royal Academy summer exhibition is surprising, impressive, divisive. What about some recognition for the curators and crews who spent…
Recently, The 1885 Singers served up a buffet of Austro-German composers, featuring Brahms, Schumann, Korngold and Richard Strauss. Feelings of longing and loss gave the pieces cohesion, with a touch of spring in the flower songs of Strauss.
The 1885 Singers and in the front row L-R: Pianists Robert Bridge and Moritz von Freyhold, Baritone James Geidt, Soprano Iúnó Connolly, Musical…
The 1885 Singers are Putney’s choir, all volunteers, all local and all talented. A musical hotbed in our tiny parish of 3.52 square miles – and that goes for the orchestral ensemble too. There’s something beautiful about walking into a concert space knowing three of the singers and bumping into three others in the audience. Community spirit warmed up All Saints Church by the Common, as the…
Secret Maps at the British Library is absolutely engrossing, 5 stars. 24 October – 18 January 2026. Of the 4 million maps in the collection, the Lead Curator of Antiquarian Maps, Tom Harper, has cherry-picked 100+ for our delectation, and as he doesn’t have enough of his own, he’s borrowed a choice few from other collections. It’s been a 5-year process.
Of the 4 million maps in the…
Glyndebourne is a cultural feast, a unique package of countryside, opera, art, gardens and Sussex heritage. With Christmas fast approaching, what about gift-vouchers for Glyndebourne? It may be the very answer you’ve been looking for, for that hard-to-please in-law! Vouchers start at £20. For those with mobility issues, you can still keep them in touch with their passion by offering a…
Medieval Women at the British Library 25 October 2024 – 2 March 2025, £17 adult ticket. 5/5! AB-FAB, lots of time to catch it, allow 2+ hours, prepare to be astounded – and disgusted.
Marvellously Multisensory – they’ve got everything except TASTE (thank goodness) to delight you at this exhibition of the medieval world from a woman’s perspective. The smells of medicines recommended for…